Rockies & MLB

Charlie Blackmon homers as Colorado Rockies top San Diego Padres 2-1

Colorado Rockies center fielder Charlie Blackmon (19) homers on a line drive to right field scoring Colorado Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu (9) during the third inning against the San Diego Padres July 8, 2014 at Coors Field. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

The air, even up there at the 5,280-foot marker on the Rooftop party deck, felt heavier Tuesday night at Coors Field. Maybe that drenching rainstorm the night before, which delayed a Rockies loss before the eighth inning, lingered around LoDo.

Or maybe in the midst of a sinking season with just three victories in three weeks, the threat of another was weighing down the atmosphere.

The Rockies are hitting like their bats are bricks.

But one hitter, on one big hit in the third inning, broke through. Charlie Blackmon, one of two Rockies all-stars, hit a high, deep home run to right field, pushing Colorado to a 2-1 victory over the San Diego Padres. It was Blackmon's first home run since June 16.

"We knew it was going to be tough to score against (Tyson) Ross," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "But Charlie Blackmon had the big blow."

Blackmon, who Sunday became a surprise selection to the NL all-star team, leads baseball with 13 leadoff home runs and 45 RBIs from the first spot. He's the Rockies' first all-star leadoff hitter since Eric Young in 1996.

Blackmon's two-run, line drive homer, off an 88 mph slider from San Diego's Tyson Ross, scored DJ LaMahieu and gave the Rockies a 2-0 lead in the third inning.

"I was looking for a fastball, but he threw me a slider. That's why I was out front of it," Blackmon said. "It wasn't a bad pitch. I did have to come out of my swing to get to it. It wasn't my best swing. But I was able to stay on it, get the barrell on it. That happened to be enough to get it out."

After an outstanding April and first week of May, the Rockies shot into first place in the National League West on May 7. But they've tumbled since.

Reasons for the Rockies' skid are myriad. Their pitching staff is fraying with injuries, sure. But while Colorado's offense was carrying the load early in the season, leading both leagues in nearly every major category, they've fallen off a ledge lately.

The Rockies' team batting average in July (.220) is down 29 percent compared with April and 25 percent compared with June. Their on-base percentage (.278) led to just 2.4 runs per game.

In their second game this series against the Padres, the Rockies managed seven hits against Tyson Ross. An all-star selection, Ross is a solid pitcher stuck on a horrible hitting team — the Padres hit just .171 in June, the worst monthly average in the history of the game, the early-days "deadball era" included.

Ross and Rockies starter Franklin Morales threw an identical number of pitches (98), with the same number of strikes (63). They each pitched six strikeouts, allowed one home run and threw one wild pitch.

"I just had to give my team an opportunity," Morales said. "The most important thing for me is to locate my fastball."

Morales left after 5 innings, right after giving up a solo home run to Rene Rivera that Rockies left fielder Corey Dickerson never thought about chasing.

"He went about as long as he could," Weiss said of Morales. "It's exactly what we needed."

Morales is the first Rockies starter to win in their past 25 games other than Jorge De La Rosa, who has won three games. It was Morales longest outing since May, in both pitches and innings.

Morales was the beneficiary of Blackmon's more timely home run. And Blackmon's two hits — he also doubled in the first inning on a line drive to right field — were a team high. Troy Tulowitzki, Dickerson, Nolan Arenado, Drew Stubbs and DJ LeMahieu all singled.

"Every player on every team in this league has to dig deep," said Rex Brothers, who pitched a scoreless seventh inning with two hits and a strikeout. "And that's just what has been going through our minds as the bullpen — digging deep and doing whatever it takes to hold that lead."

Last week, Jurrjens, the 13th starter the Rockies have used this season, made his first major-league appearance this season since the Rockies acquired him from the Cincinnati Reds organization. He struggled in more ways than one. Jurr jens lasted just 4 innings and gave up eight runs on 12 hits in his start last week. But he also got a trip to a hospital — because of breathing problems, probably caused by the altitude. Jurrjens isn't known as having a power arm — he has a career strikeout-to-walk ratio of less than 2-to-1. This will be his first start against the Padres since 2011.

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